Sovereign of the Ashes

The battle between Valter and the Seventh Pharaoh had dragged on for five years.

As time passed and the Pharaoh still failed to eliminate this Rank Seven pair, a growing sense of unease crept in.

After all, he was the Seventh Pharaoh of the Amenkha Empire—a being even more powerful than the Eighth Pharaoh!

Under normal circumstances, his strength stood at the mid stage of Rank Eight. Once he released his self-imposed seal, he could even contend with a late-stage Rank Eight opponent.

With such overwhelming power, how had he not crushed a mere Rank Seven overlord within five years?!

Standing atop the Fanged Evil Dragon, Valter launched himself forward once more, charging straight at the Seventh Pharaoh.

In that instant, the dragon lance in his hand dissolved into pure law energy, and both Valter and his mount entered a strange, transcendent state.

“That power again! What’s this supposed to be? Is it something like our Empire’s monster fusion?” the Seventh Pharaoh muttered, unable to hide his irritation as he watched Valter rush toward him once more, now seemingly fused with his dragon.

The state Valter and the Fanged Evil Dragon had entered was known in Magus World as “Man-Dragon Unity.”

It meant the rider and his mount were perfectly in sync, able to move togather in flawless harmony.

Countless dragon riders existed within Magus World, yet only a rare few ever achieved this state with their mount.

As for the level of synchronization between Valter and the Fanged Evil Dragon, it was practically unheard of!

Absolute trust and a telepathic connection allowed them to share even an Overlord’s Soul.

The mystery behind such a phenomenon went beyond even the research of Magus World’s soul overmages!

Some things were simply beyond explanation.

There was no doubt that this state of unity allowed Valter to fight opponents above his rank

In many ways, it resembled the “dual cultivation” of the Magus Civilization, as both enabled one to challenge stronger foes.

“Heh... how unexpected. I never realized you had this much hidden potential, Valter. I only meant for you to stall him for a while.”

Nergal’s voice echoed once more across the starry battlefield.

After taking time to rest and recover, Nergal seemed noticeably stronger than he had been a few years ago, both in voice and presence.

A dense, pitch-black cloud of laws reappeared in the starry sky, moving steadily toward them.

The presence of Nergal’s lawful form caused the border of the Andarco Star Domain, once blazing with heat and light, to dim.

Many black dragon knights glanced around in confusion.

Nergal’s return did not merely cast a shadow over one or two battlefields—it brought darkness to the entire region.

“Heh... you tried to catch me off guard right after I was hit by the Gallant Federation’s Infinity Light, and I have to admit, you almost pulled it off,” Nergal chuckled darkly.

“Have you got any other tricks? I heard that when Bev and the others surrounded your Eighth Pharaoh, he managed to enter a second-stage unsealing. Why don’t you show me something like that? Otherwise, this won’t be fun at all... Your aura is already starting to fade.”

The Rank Eight black mage’s voice echoed across the overlord-level battlefield.

Yet his arrival did not stop the battle.

Valter’s assault was simply too relentless. With the Fanged Evil Dragon perfectly in sync with him, the Seventh Pharaoh remained besieged.

When a Rank Seven overlord burned through their Overlord Soul to fight a Rank Eight opponent head-on, there was little the latter could do in the short term—unless they possessed an overwhelming mastery of law power.

On top of that, Nergal’s return placed immense pressure on the Seventh Pharaoh.

He had to admit that this old black mage’s strength was at least on par with his own, if not slightly greater.

After all, even the Seventh Pharaoh could not be sure he would have survived a direct hit from the Gallant Federation’s Infinity Light and escaped so far.

Yet Nergal had done exactly that, and now he was back on the battlefield!

That feat alone placed him above countless overlord-level beings across the Astral Realm.

Nergal was a seasoned overlord who had endured countless storms. His strength, composure, and experience all stood at the very peak of overlord-level existences.

For the first time, the Seventh Pharaoh began to consider retreat.

It was not that he could not defeat Nergal at his peak—but rather that he was no longer certain he could.

At present, he had only two or three years left in his explosive state.

If Nergal had not returned, he might have had time to kill either Valter or the Fanged Evil Dragon.

Moreover, the depletion of his Overlord Soul had not yet reached a critical level.

Compared to Valter’s own losses, the Overlord Soul the Pharaoh had lost to his piercing strike was insignificant.

After a brief moment of consideration, the Seventh Pharaoh suppressed his anger and began to withdraw.

If he chose to leave, no one could stop him.

From a strategic standpoint, he had already achieved his objective.

“Oh? Leaving?” Nergal called out.

“You destroyed three of my precious undead chimera beasts, and after chasing me for so long, I’ve lost quite a bit of my Overlord Soul. Do you really think I’ll let you walk away without leaving something behind?” He let out a cold, rasping laugh.

Beneath the swirling black mist, Nergal swept his robe forward. Countless massive, complex magic arrays instantly appeared throughout this battlefield!

In truth, Nergal had never truly left during these years.

While healing his injuries, he had quietly drawn all these magic arrays across the surrounding space with his power.

When it came to mastery over magic arrays, in Magus World, only Douglas of Sky City could rival him.

Like Douglas, Nergal had long since walked a path of endless study—exploring and researching everything he came across.

Somewhere along the way, he had reached a level that inspired awe, even if he himself barely noticed it.

The cost of such mastery, however, was countless years and an immeasurable fortune.

Many believed Blackhaven to be poor, but Nergal himself was anything but that.

His wealth did not come from exploiting Blackhaven’s scarce resources, nor from the profits he earned as the Magus Civilization’s so-called “Black Glove”.

Long before he took control of the Quatar Star Pirates and became Magus World’s “Black Glove”, he had already accumulated more than enough resources to sustain all his experiments.

The same could be said of another Rank Eight dark summoner of Magus World.

Otherwise, how could that person so casually leave the civilization behind and wander distant star domains in search of the Astral Realm’s origin?

A torrent of magical energy surged from the arrays Nergal had prepared, rapidly enveloping the entire battlefield.

A colossal, pitch-black cage materialized in the boundless void.

Its appearance made the battlefield resemble the Netherworld Star Domain, where Bev and the others had been trapped.

There, the Fifth Pharaoh had led the encirclement.

Here, it was Nergal, alongside Valter and the Fanged Evil Dragon, who had surrounded the Seventh Pharaoh.

“Heh... let me tell you something,” Nergal said with a dark chuckle. “I’m a necromancer who also knows a thing or two about summoning.”

“Come! Take him down for me! I’ll pay each of you five hundred million top-grade soul essences!”

With a wave of his staff, the space around this overlord-level battlefield began to ripple.